President Trump said Saturday that the United States has agreed to “cancel the attack” on Iran after signaling a peace deal to end the war could be imminent.
“We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters [sic] of a deal has been agreed to,” Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post. “This would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
He added: “I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL. The Country of Israel joins me in this commitment.”
The U.S. and Israel had planned what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure targets in Iran, multiple sources told CBS News, with strikes possible as soon as this weekend.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard. At some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore,'” Mr. Trump said on Friday at Camp David.
Earlier Saturday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Mr. Trump and cautioned him against conducting a fresh round of strikes on Iran, CBS News learned. One source told CBS News that bin Salman’s outreach to Mr. Trump was “all about concern over the targets.”
Several U.S. embassies in the Middle East — including Amman, Jordan; Jerusalem; and Baghdad — issued security alerts on Saturday due to “heightened tensions.”
The State Department advised that “Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise caution and heightened vigilance and should be prepared for flight cancellations, periodic airspace closures, and potential travel disruptions.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia said they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in a joint operation. U.S. Central Command said that strike was in response to more than 30 drone attacks from those militants over the previous 72-hour period that targeted “U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” and that had come at the direction of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Earlier Tuesday, CENTCOM said Iran had launched a surprise ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East. CENTCOM said that all of Iran’s missiles were intercepted.
The latest round of direct U.S. strikes on Iran came Wednesday. According to CENTOM, that operation saw it hit Iran’s “military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities.”
Israel itself has not engaged in direct military operations against Iran since the U.S. and Iran reached a memorandum of understanding in June to halt fighting. However, that temporary ceasefire collapsed in early July, and the U.S. and Iran resumed their conflict.
In his statement Saturday, Mr. Trump said that “The Country of Israel joins me” in the “commitment” to a peace deal.